BB shouldn't take away from your enjoyment of the trip. We used it a few times when we knew we would be late arriving to an anchorage (Anagada > WB > Great Harbor, Jost > cooper) but were completely prepared to make alternative plans if we didn't get a ball. Cooper has lost it's magic for me, but it remains on the list because our sailing mates got engaged there. Marking off new anchorages for us it much more of an appeal for me. I understand some folks have very set itineraries, but part of the beauty is the many places to explore.

We did find someone tying up to our ball at Cooper around 5 when we came into the anchorage. Luckily, there was a BB employee(?) in a dinghy that had caught up to him as we pulled in. He somehow knew the mono taking our ball wasn't reserved there and asked him to move, while advising which boats may be leaving (he ended up anchoring). Glad he was there, but we had no problem sending someone in to find the captain at happy hour either.